Furthher legal problems for Phorm (BT's Webwise)

Further legal problems for Phorm

Posted by Glyn in Computer Law, Copyright, Data Protection, Data
Retention, Identity, Intellectual Property, Privacy, Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act at November 25th, 2008

Nicholas Bohm, General Counsel, FIPR:

“My earlier legal analysis shows that the operation of Phorm’s system
involves illegal interception, fraud and breach of the data protection
principles. Now, with the help of my co-author Joel Harrison, I’ve
explained how the system infringes the copyright and database rights of
many Internet content providers. These companies have the option to take
court action to ensure that Phorm, and the ISPs that use their system,
are unable to profit from their illegal actions — Phorm and the ISPs have
only one sensible option: to abandon their plans altogether.�

The November 2008 issue of “Computers and Law�, the highly respected
publication of the Society for Computers and Law, carries an article by
Nicholas Bohm, General Counsel for the Foundation for Information Policy
Research (FIPR), and Joel Harrison, an associate at Milbank, Tweed,
Hadley & McCloy LLP.

Full article here:

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/newsb...egal-problems-
for-phorm/

- Ed
--
http://www.nodpi.org

Eddie R wrote:
> Further legal problems for Phorm

I don't know why folks are making a fuss about Phorm and happily making
recommendations to use the services of OpenDNS when their ISP DNS stuffs
up?

--
Adrian C

Adrian C <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I don't know why folks are making a fuss about Phorm and happily making
> recommendations to use the services of OpenDNS when their ISP DNS stuffs
> up?

I've seen a lot of publicity regarding OpenDNS. I appreciate it's
probably a commercial concern but I'm struggling to see its USP. Can
you enlighten me/us?

I have noticed that its DNS is totally useless when trying to diagnose DNS
problems as it returns its own server(s) instead of saying there's no such
record. Presumably this is some sort of search page from which OpenDNS
gains ad revenue, but I've not investigated terribly hard. Incidentally,
isn't this pretty much exactly what VeriSign got slated for a year or
so ago?

Chris

On 25/11/08 21:47, Chris Davies wrote:
> I have noticed that its DNS is totally useless when trying to diagnose DNS
> problems as it returns its own server(s) instead of saying there's no such
> record. Presumably this is some sort of search page from which OpenDNS
> gains ad revenue, but I've not investigated terribly hard. Incidentally,
> isn't this pretty much exactly what VeriSign got slated for a year or
> so ago?

Presumably this is something that must be enabled on a per-IP basis. I
tried to look up a non-existent domain-name using the OpenDNS public
resolvers (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) and my queries were met
with a NXDOMAIN response each time. I notice that OpenDNS still does not
provide any IPv6 resolvers. I am aware of a couple of public IPv6
resolvers but they are not widely advertised.

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:25:15 +0000, Mortimer wrote:

> The devil in me would actually prefer Phorm to continue with their plans
> and then get sued to hell and back, such that their directors are placed
> behind bars or face financial personal ruin, rather than they simply
> abandon their plans. I'm not *normally* a vindictive sort of bloke ;-)

Hey Mortimer... why don't you join us on nodpi.org?

- Ed
--
http://www.nodpi.org

Chris Hills <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Presumably this is something that must be enabled on a per-IP basis.

Not a customer of OpenDNS, but:

dig @208.67.222.222 wibble.roaima.co.uk

[...]
wibble.roaima.co.uk. 0 IN A 208.69.34.132

Trust me, there is no wibble.roaima.co.uk in my zone file.

Chris

"Chris Davies" <chris-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Chris Hills <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> Presumably this is something that must be enabled on a per-IP basis.
>
> Not a customer of OpenDNS, but:
>
> dig @208.67.222.222 wibble.roaima.co.uk
>
> [...]
> wibble.roaima.co.uk. 0 IN A 208.69.34.132
>
> Trust me, there is no wibble.roaima.co.uk in my zone file.
>
> Chris


Yes, I see the same.
It's resolving to 208.69.34.132,
whose reverse-lookup is:

hit-nxdomain.opendns.com

A rather telling name, no?
For the record, my nslookup:


C:\Users\Ron.HOMENET>nslookup
Default Server: homenetdc02.homenet.local
Address: 81.2.123.190

> server 208.67.222.222
Default Server: resolver1.opendns.com
Address: 208.67.222.222

> wibble.roaima.co.uk
Server: resolver1.opendns.com
Address: 208.67.222.222

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: wibble.roaima.co.uk
Address: 208.69.34.132

> 208.69.34.132
Server: resolver1.opendns.com
Address: 208.67.222.222

Name: hit-nxdomain.opendns.com
Address: 208.69.34.132

--
Ron